Pencils Down? French Plan Would End Homework

NewsNM: Swickard - What is the purpose of homework? To move short-term learning that day into long-term learning. Most homework is given to prove that schools and teachers are being tough and has nothing to do with the only reason to do homework - moving short-term learning from that day to long-term learning and then consolidating it with sleep which is the brain's mechanism. Using a political solution for a non-political problem is wrong. From NPR.org - In the name of equality, the French government has proposed doing away with homework in elementary and junior high school. French President Francois Hollande argues that homework penalizes children with difficult home situations, but even the people whom the proposal is supposed to help disagree.
"Poor people want homework because they know that school is very important, and the only chance the only possibility they have to give their children a better life is if their children succeed at school," says Emmanuel Davidenkoff, editor-in-chief of L'Etudiant, a magazine and website devoted to French school and education. He says the Socialist government doesn't seem to understand the concerns of the working and middle class and in the name of equality, got it all wrong.
Cutting homework is just part of an effort aimed at making primary and secondary school a happier, more relaxed place for children. The school week will be lengthened — currently, French children have Wednesdays off — but the school day will be shortened. Kids get out so late here there's no time for extracurricular activities. Basically, French school is a grind, says Peter Gumbel, author of a scathing book on the education system in France. Read more

Pencils Down? French Plan Would End Homework